Engagement and Support Officer in Worthing

We’re looking for people who share our values of compassion, accountability and optimism to help us provide high quality care for the patients, carers, families and communities we serve.

We specialise in NHS mental health and learning disability services and we’re proud to make a difference every day.

At SPFT we put people first.

We’ll do everything possible to help you feel respected, valued and included.

You’ll have opportunities to learn, grow and gain new experiences to support your career, with access to lifelong learning and professional development.

We actively promote f lexible working and understand how important work life balance is, especially in healthcare.

Whether it’s part time hours, hybrid working or flexible start and finish times, we’ll explore what works for you and the role.

Our recruitment process is designed to get to know you, and we’ll explore your examples further at interview, so it’s important your application genuinely represents what you bring.

You can read more about using AI in applications and interviews on our recruitment process page .

We’re shaping a workplace where ideas are encouraged, technology supports you and everyone has a voice in how we improve.

If that sounds like the kind of organisation you want to be part of, we’d love to hear from you.

Job overview

The Engagement and Support Officer will champion participation which includes volunteering, patient and friend & family carer involvement and the Expert by Experience role across the trust.

Main duties of the job

This role will work with service users, friend & family carers, experts by experience and staff to share experience, inspire hope and encourage engagement in participation in the trust as an option for recovery and career development.

This role will engage with individuals and groups using a peer approach, acting as a positive role model for people overcoming mental health challenges and supporting staff to embed meaningful participation approaches within their work.

This role will support the facilitation, implementation, development and review of the Participation team-led patient and friend & family carer experience initiatives

Working for our organisation

The People Participation Team at Sussex Partnership is a small team in the Communications and Engagement Directorate.

It exists to support service users and carers to have a strong and influential voice in how the organisation is run and to find ways of working collaboratively to improve mental health services for everyone.

This is based on the belief that it is only by listening to service users and carers’ experiences and working with them to create change, that we will deliver the best services.

Everything we do is guided by the 4pi Involvement Standards developed by NSUN the National Survivors Users Network.

This is a simple framework of standards for good practice and to monitor and evaluate involvement.

• Detailed job description and main responsibilities
• Supporting those with lived experience
• To use parts of your recovery story to inspire hope in others to get involved inparticipation activities in the trust
• To engage with service users and their friend & family carer in participation as a tool forrecovery, a way to utilise existing skills and to gain purpose and independence.
• To promote and make service users and friend & family carer aware of personalstrengths, skills and attributes and how these can be channelled into participation.
• Development of patient and friend & family carer participation
• To support the team to champion the importance of patient and friend & family carerexperience in shaping trust services, ensuring this is at the heart of trust activities andservice improvement.
• To participate in monitoring patient and friend & family carer feedback andsatisfaction with the overall service, including undertaking satisfaction surveys.
• To participate in a range of initiatives including listening events, focus groups and surveysto ensure that the trust involves and listen to patients and friend & family carer.
• To support services and teams to adopt best practice on patient / service userinvolvement.
• To support services and teams in the development of their Working Together Groups.
• Equality, diversity and inclusion
• To respect the individuality, values, cultural and religious needs of service users and friend & family carer and ensure that engagement activities consider diversity and inclusion.
• To highlight any inequalities or disparity in the individuals and groups who are engagedin participation in the trust.
• Leading specific patient and friend & family carer experience projects and undertaking projectwork as directed by the Patient and Carer Experience Lead.
• Monitoring and reporting
• To gather feedback from patients, friend & family carer and the public and recordthis on the Participation team database.
• To record patient and friend & family carer and volunteer involvement activity on the Participation team database and review this regularly with team members.
• To access report manager and other platforms to pull sources of data aroundpeople’s experience and produce reports under the direction of the Patient and Friend & family carer Experience Lead.
• Recruiting, inducting and supporting volunteers and Experts by Experience
• To support the recruitment, induction and training of Experts by Experience
• Communication and relationships
• To work closely with Peer Support Workers and Friend & family carer Leads toidentify service users and friend & family carer who may benefit from involvementand participation activities.
• To work collaboratively with services, clinicians and managers, supporting their localpatient and friend & family carer involvement strategies.
• To form professional relationships with service users and friend & family carer.
• To develop and maintain effective communication with services, departments and staff.
• To participate in events, conferences and workshops with a focus on patient and friend& family carer experience and volunteer celebration.
• To use social media platforms to promote patient and friend & family carer opportunities.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Level 3 qualification in a health and social care related subject or equivalent practical experience
• Good standard of literacy and numeracy; GCSE English and Maths at Grade C or above
• Evidence of continuous personal and professional development
• Knowledge / Experience
• Knowledge of Equality, Diversity and Human rights legislation and good practice
• Experience of working with people with mental health needs in a paid or voluntary capacity in health / social care / teaching setting
• Experience of working with a diverse range of people in a dynamic environment
• Experience of interpreting and presenting information
• Experience of supporting colleagues on projects and events
• Experience of using mental health services or supporting a family, friend or carer who uses services

SPFT is committed to building a workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We particularly welcome applications from people from

Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds and from disabled candidates , as these groups are currently underrepresented.

Successful candidates are normally appointed to the bottom of the pay scale unless previous NHS experience in a similar role can be evidenced.

SPFT takes its responsibilities for safeguarding children, young people and adults at risk very seriously. We expect all staff and bank workers to share this commitment and complete the relevant safeguarding training for their role.

If you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date, please assume your application has been unsuccessful.

However, we’ll always do our best to keep you informed as we know how much time and care goes into applying for a role.

In the event of a high number of applications, we may close this vacancy early.

Application numbers

Due to high numbers of applications this vacancy may close before the advertised closing date. We will not be able to accept late applications to this post.

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